Facebook may have relaxed the ban on cryptocurrency-related ads to allow some respite to up-and-coming businesses in the sector, but it didn’t miss out on the opportunity to sneak through some serious policy changes to weed out the bad apples. According to new Facebook policies, all crypto-centric businesses must furnish their licenses for verification before they can display ads on the largest social media platform in the world. The new rules are applicable to all businesses irrespective of “whether or not they are traded on a public stock exchange.
At the same time, the company had made it clear that it will continue to prohibit content advertising initial coin offerings (ICOs) and binary options on its platform. While the move appears to be rather harsh considering that there are many legitimate ICOs out there, the company says it was necessary to safeguard unsuspecting investors who may fall victim to bogus ICOs. After all, for every successful ICO, there are many more that have either failed or are outright fraudulent.
Facebook had previously banned all crypto-related ads citing that the website was committed to abstaining from promoting financial products and services that are frequently labeled as “misleading or deceptive” practices.
Explaining the impact of the changes brought in by the Mark Zuckerberg-run company, John DeCleene, an associate fund manager at investment firm OCIM, said: “Allowing selected cryptocurrencies to advertise will slowly introduce high-quality crypto projects to the general public, which will in turn change people’s mindset when it comes to this asset.”.